South Koreans are increasingly shunning marriage and childbirth in latest demographic study painting bleak future for the country.
According to data from the Statistics Korea Thursday, marriage registration in December fell 14.7 percent on year to 28,400. It is the first time December marriages fell under 30,000 since monthly records was tracked from 2000.
Marriages for full 2016 totaled 281,700, a record-low. Newborns in December were registered 27,200 babies, down 14.7 percent from a year earlier, the lowest monthly tally. The number of newborns in 2016 also was all-time low of 406,300.
Koreans born from 1979 to 1982 are putting off marriages due to economic and income instabilities and concerns about affording a family, said Lee Ji-yeon, a researcher at Statistics Korea said.
By Kim Gyu-sik
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